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TREASURY DEPARTMENT 
UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

HUGH S. GUMMING, Surgeon General 



SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS 

A COMPARISON OF ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL ON ACCOUNT 

OF SICKNESS AND FROM CAUSES OTHER THAN 

SICKNESS AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS 



BY 

SELWYN D. COLLINS 

Assistant Statistician 
United States Fu^lic Health Service 



REPRINT No. 793 

FROM THE 

PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS 

October 27, 1922 

(Pages 2683-2687) 



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WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



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SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS. 

A Comparison of Absence from School on Account of Sickness and from Causes 
Other Than Sickness Among Boys and Girls.^ 

By Selwyn D. Coluns, Assistant Statistician, United States Public Health Service. 

Morbidity studies have uniformly revealed that time lost from sick- 
ness is greater among women than among men. It is the purpose of 
this paper to present briefly a comparison of absence from school 
on account of sickness for boys and girls, in order to see if the dif- 
ference in respect to disability between men and women holds true 
between boys and girls. A comparison can also be made of absence 
from sickness with absence from causes other than sickness among 
children of different sex and age. 

Data on absence from school of 6,130 children observed for a 
total of 669,214 child days during the school session 1919-20 in 
13 localities in Missouri were published in the Public Health Reports 
for July 8, 1921. ^ Data on absence from school of 3,786 children 
observed for a total of 611,279 child days during the school session 
1920-21, in 4 localities in Missouri, were published in the Public 
Health Reports for September 8, 1922.^ On the basis of these data it 
is proposed to make the comparisons indicated. 

Although the school year 1919-20 included the rather severe in- 
fluenza epidemic of February, 1920, which very appreciably increased 
the sickness for that year, the character of the age curves for the two 
years may be compared. Table I and Figures 1 and 2 compare the 
absence of girls and boys in each of the two years under considera- 
tion. Figure 1 compares absence of boys and girls of all ages, and 
Figure 2 makes the same comparison by age groups, 

1 From Field Investigations in Child Hygiene, United States Public Health Service, in cooperation with 
the Statistical OfBee, United States Public Health Service. (Reprint from the Public Health Reports, 
vol. 37, No. 43, Oct. 27, 1922, pp. 26S3-26S7.) 

2 Sickness Among School Children, Public Health Reports, vol. 36, No. 27, pp. 1549-1559. (Reprint, 
No. 674.) 

s The Relation of Physical Defects to Sickness, Public Health Reports, vol. 37, No. 36, pp. 2183-2193, 
Sept. 8, 1922. (Reprint No. 782.) 

20179—22 3 



4 SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Table I. — School absence of boys and girls. 

(Percentage of the total school days which were lost from sickness and from causes other than sickness 
by children in representative localities in Missouri during the school sessions 1919-20 and 1920-21 com- 
pared for boys and girls .>] 



School session and sex. 


Age. 




All ages. 


6-72 


8-9 


10-11 


12-13 


14-16' 


SICKNESS. 



Both sexes. 
Bovs. . . 
Girls... 



1920-21. 



Both sexes . 
Boys. . . 
Girls . . . 



1919-20. 



3.5 


4.9 


3.5 


3.0 


2.9 


3.3 


5.0 


3.2 


2.8 


2.8 


3.6 


4.8 


3.9 


3.2 


3.1 


5.6 


9.1 


6.4 


4.4 


4.1 


5.4 


9.0 


6.0 


4.4 


3.8 


5.8 


9.2 


6.8 


4.5 


4.5 



2.3 
2.3 
2.4 



4.1 
4.1 
4.2 



CAUSES OTHEH THAN SICKNESS. 



Both sexes . 
Boys. . . 
Girls... 



1920-21. 



Both sexes . 
Boys. . . 
Girls... 



2.5 


2.9 


2.1 


1.9 


2.6 


2.7 


3.3 


2.2 


2.1 


2.7 


2.2 


2.5 


1.9 


1.8 


2.4 


3.0 


3.4 


2.6 


2.7 


3.1 


3.3 


3.4 


2.9 


2.9 


3.4 


2.7 


3.3 


2.3 


2.5 


2.7 



3.6 
4.1 

3.1 



3.3 
4.0 
2.6 



1 Data for 1919-20 session include sickness from influenza during the epidemic of February, 1920. 

2 Includes a few children under 6 years of age. 

3 Includes a few children over 16 years of age. 

In practically all age groups in either of the years for which data 
are available, the girls were absent from school on account of sick- 
ness more than the boys. (Fig. 2, A.) The differences are not great, 
but they are consistent in the various age groups. Hardly enough 
ages are shown to determine whether the difference increases or de- 
creases with age, but there seems to be no clear tendency either way. 

Considering all ages, the rate of absence from sickness in 1920-21 
for boys was 3.3 days per 100 days enrolled, while the rate for girls 
was 3.6, or 9 per cent greater for girls than for boys. In the 1919-20 
session the rate for girls was 7 per cent greater than that for boys. 

Absence from causes other than sickness shows different variations 
as between the sexes and according to age from those shown by 
absence from sickness. (Fig. 2, C and D.) Boys were absent more 
than girls, and the difference seems to increase after about 10 years 
of age. 

Considering all ages, the rate of absence from causes other than 
sickness was 18 per cent less for girls than for boys in each of the 
two years considered. 

Comparing the age curves of sickness for the two school sessions 
(Fig. 2, B), it appears that the two curves are similar, high at 6-7 



SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIELS. 



years and declining as age increases. Since the 1919-20 session 
included the influenza epidemic of February, 1920, the rates for this 
session are higher at each age and could not reasonably be combined 
with the rates for the 1920-21 session to get an age curve based on 
the experience of both school sessions. However, the fact that the 
age curves for the two sessions are very similar, strengthens the 
belief that the relative incidence of sickness in the various ages is 
fairly accurately shown by either curve. 



SCHOOL ABSEHCE OF BOYS ADD GIRIS OP ALL AGES 

Percentage of the Total School Days iirtiich were Lost from 
Siclmess smd from Caases Other than Sickness Compared 
for Boys and Girls.* 



Sez and School| 
Session 



Per Cent 

4 1 



Slclcness 



1920 - 21 
Boys 

Girls 



1919 - 20 
Boys 

Girls 



1920 - 21 
Boys 



V//////////////////A 



/////////// ////////////////y/A 



Causes Other than Slolcndss 



Girls V//////// ZZ 



1919 - 20 
Boys 



Girls ^ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ 



* Data for 1919-20 session include siclcness from influenza 
during the epidemic of February, 1920. 

Fig. 1 

The age curve of absence from causes other than sickness (Fig. 
2, E) differs materially from the age curve of sickness (Fig. 2, B). 
The minimum absence from causes other than sickness comes in 
the middle school ages in both school sessions. 

SUMMARY 

1. School bpys and girls were compared by age groups as to 
absence from sickness and from causes other than sickness on the 



SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS. 



SCHOOL ABSEHCB OF BOYS AHD GIRIS, BT AGE GROOPS 

Percentage of the Total School Days which were Lost from Sickness anl 
from Causes Other than Sickness during the School Sessions 1919-SO and 
1920-21 Compared for Boys and Girls, by Age Periods • 



6-7 



Age Groups 
8-9 10-11 12-13 U-16 




Age Groups 
6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 U-16 



9-- 



8 -- 



o 5 
4 



o 



(u 



3-- 



1-- 



«5 

« 

<D 
O 

^ 4 



2 -- 



1 -- 



— 0- 



1920-21 



\ Slctmess - Both Sexes 
\ 1919 - 20 



H h 



6 
5 
4-- 

3-- 
2-- 

1-- 



«4-- 



S3-- 



1920 - 21 



6-- 



4-- 



2-- 



Causes Other than Slclmess 
1920 - 21 




H H 



Causes Other than Slclcness 
1919 - 20 



Boys 

Girls 




H 1 1 h 



Causes Other than Slclmess 
Both Sexes 

1919 - 20 

^ 1920 - 21 



6-7 e - 9 10-11 ]a-13 14-16 
Age Groups 



6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-16 
Age Groups 



* Data for 1919-20 session include slolniesB from Influensa during the epidemic 
of February, 1920. 

Fig. 2. 



SCHOOL ABSENCE OF BOYS AND GIRLS. 7 

basis of data collected in representative cities in Missouri in the 
school sessions 1919-20 and 1920-21. 

2. Girls in practically every age group were absent from school on 
account of sickness more than boys, but boys were absent from 
causes other than sickness more than girls. 

3. During the ages studied (6-16 years), sickness decreased with 
age, but absence from causes other than sickness decreased up to 
10 or 11 years and then increased with age. 



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